The heroes of the week, God bless them, are the stalwart judges of the 1st District Court of Appeal.
For a second time in less than a year, they ruled against eco-terrorist attorney Richard Grosso -- and struck a knockout blow to all who would raise "meritless appellate arguments on the chance they will 'stick.'"
Have a look at Friday's ruling in the attachment below.
Grosso, Fort Lauderdale-based Everglades Law Center and his Treasure Coast client, Martin County Conservation Alliance, were ordered to pay the court and attorney costs of 1) everybody involved in the original appeal last December and 2) all involved in the request for the rehearing appeal -- the one ruled on Friday -- including Martin County, the Florida Department of Community Affairs and various development interests.
The bill likely will run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"Because Appellants (Grosso and Co.) pursued appellate review without any foundation in law or fact, they are properly subject to sanctions under section 57.105, Florida Statutes," according to Friday's order.
What followed was probably the strongest statement from an appellate court yet to crack down on attorneys who almost routinely use the courts as a tactical weapon to settle a political score or carry out a political vendetta.
"... We believe that applying sanctions in cases such as this will protect this court's ability to serve litigants with meritorious cases ... and will discourage lawyers from raising meritless appellate arguments on the chance they will 'stick,' the order reads.
"Furthermore, as does the dissent, we find positive policies embodied in the statute, because the statute protects those who are wrongfully required to pay attorneys' fees for meritless legal actions. Here, Appellees (Martin County and Co.) were wrongfully required to defend an appeal that should never have been filed. Although the imposition of sanctions does impose a cost on one party, it does so to protect the wronged party. ..."
The Martin County case that prompted all this was the usual sort of throw-up-roadblocks, delay-and-win case for Grosso. Only the result was different.
In 2007 Martin County dared to reduce the minimum lot size on 191,000 agricultural acres in western Martin County from 20 to 2 acres. The idea was to pave the way for clustered development.
Clustered development is an avenue for saving green space and allowing rural property owners to trade large parcels for development credits. It's almost universally considered a good and ecological thing, and sound policy to help the damaged Everglades. It also is the darling of savvy land planners and environmental groups throughout the country. Even 1000 Friends of Florida loves it.
Everywhere but in Martin County, where Grosso does most of this business.
Martin County is my old stomping ground. Grosso's work is more than familiar to me. Believe me when I say, what he's been doing isn't seeking to enforce the Growth Management Act, he's been using the law to terrorize local government, to tie it in legal knots, to harass perceived enemies, to delay projects he and his clients don't want.
The idea is to scare off lawsuit-weary, fiscally conservative local government officials from making any growth management decision not initiated by his clients. Or to demonize and punish them if they do.
Grosso wanted a rehearing and what did the 1st District COA give him? A nightmare.
It replaced the December ruling with far stronger language, something finally to thin the ranks of Florida's ever-hovering, bloodsucking, eco-terrorist attorneys.
Good job, 1st District Court of Appeal.
This is an opinion column. Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
